The big news to come out of Wednesday's player meeting in Connecticut was that the Professional Bowlers Assn. has decided that the "signature event" on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour no longer will be the U.S. Open.

Rather, it will be the PBA Tournament of Champions.

That's the logical conclusion that can be reached after PBA executives reportedly announced that the 2010 ToC would feature a $1 million prize fund and a $250,000 first-place prize — both records.

Furthermore, the tournament will be opened up to all PBA champions — Lumber Liquidators Tour, Senior Tour, Regional Tour, Women's Series — in the history of the organization.

That means literally hundreds of players will be eligible, creating the possibility of a real Cinderella story -- if this season's Cinderella story starring Kelly Kulick possibly could be topped.

Details of the Tournament of Champions upgrade had not been finalized when the April issue of BJI went to press. However, the April feature includes exclusive quotes and comments on a variety of topics from PBA Commissioner Fred Schreyer.

Meanwhile, other details of the player meeting and other PBA announcements are detailed in Jeff Richgels' bowling blog. You can read all about it by following this URL:

http://host.madison.com/sports/recreation/bowling/article_48b71dfc-3223-11df-b69c-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story